Craig: Newspaper Witch-hunt Caused My Guilty Plea

Please let me apologize to my family, freinds and staff and fellow Idahoans for the cloud placed over Idaho. I did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport.

In June, I overreacted and made a poor decision. While I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct at the Minneapolis airport nor anywhere else.

I chose to plead guilty to a lesser charge in the hopes of making it go away.

I did not seek any counsel from am attorney, staff, friends or family. That was a mistake and i deeply regret it. because of that, I have now retained counsel and i am asking counsel to review this matter and to advise me on how to proceed.

I want to put my state of mind in the context of June 11. For 8 months, leading up to June 11, my family and I have been relentessly and viciously harassed by the Idaho Statesman. If you saw the article today, you know why. Let me be clear. I am not gay. I never have been gay.

Craig says he's not stepping down and will announce next month whether he'll seek re-election.

Comments

'I want to thank you all for coming out today' - doesn't that say it all?

Posted by Bill | August 28, 2007 4:44 PM

Larry Craig is in denial. He will deny it even if he is caught on camera with his pants down and blame it on media.

The fact is Larry Craig sucks!

While he cruise public restrooms for gay sex he votes for decrimination against gays. What a hypocrite.

Larry Craig's record:

* Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)

* Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)

* Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)

* Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)

* Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)

Posted by LarrySucks | August 28, 2007 4:55 PM

Agree with this as mentioned by someone on kos..

Now that Idaho Senator Larry Craig has finally been discovered hiding in his closet, it’s becoming more and more obvious that there’s a segment of the Republican Party whose main motivation in politics appears to be making laws that are an attempt to keep themselves from their particular dysfunctional behaviors. We saw it with Mark Foley, who actually introduced legislation to punish the kind of behavior he engaged in. And strongly anti-gay Republicans like Ed Schrock and Jim West have supported and even pushed anti-gay legislation as they sat quietly in their closets.

To me, it's pretty obvious that every conservative anti-gay extremist is gay. If you're not gay, you don't sit around obsessing over gay sex. If you sit around obsessing about gay sex, then you're gay. It's that simple.

Posted by randi | August 28, 2007 4:57 PM

As usual its Republicans Vs. FACTS.

They neither believe in facts nor in science.

Mr. Craig needs to answer the following question raised in today's The Idaho Statesman. It gives details of all of rumors and allegations swirling around Craig being gay.

The paper interviewed more than 300 people, combing over military and police records, interviewing Craig’s accusers and even tracking down an ex-girlfriend from Craig’s days at the University of Idaho in the late 1960s (who for the record told the paper she felt like “an accessory” when the two dated).

The Statesman also examined rumors about Craig dating to his college days and his 1982 pre-emptive denial that he had sex with underage congressional pages.

It states that Craig engaged in homosexual activity in a bathroom in Washington’s Union Station in 2004. Like the Minnesota airport restroom, the Union Station restroom is known as a place where men can find anonymous sex.

The most serious finding by the Statesman was the report by a professional man with close ties to Republican officials. The 40-year-old man reported having oral sex with Craig at Washington's Union Station, probably in 2004. The Statesman also spoke with a man who said Craig made a sexual advance toward him at the University of Idaho in 1967 and a man who said Craig "cruised" him for sex in 1994 at the REI store in Boise.

Posted by santana | August 28, 2007 5:05 PM

He, like many Republicans, is not only gay but a hipocrit as well.

Posted by Tyler Roberts | August 28, 2007 7:58 PM

Here's a complete list of all the conservative bloggers who defamed Mike Rogers last year who have apologized:

That's right - none have.

What a classless bunch of fascist wingnuts.

Posted by MoeLarryAndJesus | August 28, 2007 7:59 PM

US Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) = Convicted Criminal

Posted by Larry | August 28, 2007 10:59 PM

So Marc, do you still maintain your absurd position that Craig's behavior is unrelated to the mindset of the Conservative Movement?

What are we to make of Craig’s contentions that he was not gay, did nothing wrong, and pled guilty in the heat of the movement (The moment apparently being weeks long)? There he was, defiant in the face of reality, apparently convinced that if he believes enough in something, it will make it true no matter what the objective facts say. As with the administration’s pronouncements about WMDs and the progress of the war, we are let to wonder if his incredible statements represent willful self-delusion or contempt for the rest of us.

Does it not bring to mind the Conservative’s (wide) stance on issues as diverse as the invasion of Iraq, the teaching of evolution, the facts of global warming, and the panacea qualities of tax-cuts for the wealthy?

How much resonance do you need before you are willing to admit that maybe Craig’s behavior in this matter is related to the rest of him, including the Conservative philosophy that so appeals to him? How many times do we need to see the same behavior duplicated by different people in the Conservative Movement in the face of different situations before you would be willing to consider that there might be a pattern?

Seriously Marc, what is the deal? Why the blinders on this topic?

Posted by Cormac | August 29, 2007 10:32 AM

I love that his concluding remarks were all spent refuting accusations that he is a homosexual. Could it be any more clear that the bigger problem he is facing here is not the crime he committed, but the fact that he is gay? That's what he's trying most strenuously to defend against. It seems clear to me that, unfortunately, his Republican party mates are now removing him from positions of power because of his alleged homosexuality, not because of his crime. If he could successfully defend his heterosexual image, he would be no worse off than Vitter is now.

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Posted by Lindsey Steele | December 18, 2007 3:58 AM